Archive for November, 2008

Not to keep beating this thing into the ground, but a story out of Yakima (at the Herald Republic) brings home again how Democrats do better in urban areas and Republicans in rural.

The context is that we’re talking about the Yakima area, which in living memory, more or less, has been a solidly Republican place. Yakima County has been for some time the largest county in Washington (about 220,000 people) that’s been reliably Republican.

For 2008, it still was. But is it being chipped away? While Republicans won Yakima across the board, the margins were a little closer. And then there’s House 14A.

Of the three legislative seats in Yakima-centered 14, the Senate seat went unopposed and House B was a runaway. But House A, pitting Republican Norm Johnson against Democrat Vickie Ybarra, Johnson winning just 53.3%-46.7%. Part of the reason was money: Ybarra collected and spent about twice as much of it as Johnson. More interesting was the way the votes broke down geographically: Ybarra swept the precincts inside the cities of Yakima, Union Gap and Selah (and even little Tieton), while Johnson, by larger margins, took everything outside those cities – which turned out to be just enough to win.

This turns out not to be unexpected. Johnson was quoted as saying, “I would have been a fool to think I could have carried everything in Yakima.”

1SUPERBUG AT THE HOSPITAL There have been a few national stories about new unusually dangerous microscopic organisms which have gotten their big boost by way of hospitals, but most of those cases have been on the east coast. The Seattle Times has an outstanding report out today about “MRSA, a drug-resistant germ, [which] lurks in Washington hospitals, carried by patients and staff and fueled by inconsistent infection control. This stubborn germ is spreading here at an alarming rate, but no one has tracked these cases — until now.” (And again: Stay out of hospitals if you can . . .)

2WISH LIST What should the Obama Administration do early on? This may be the time to get those preferences in, and the Bend Bulletin has one of the best regional wish-list pieces out so far. Their request includes three items Obama specifically called for in his campaign: “including tens of billions in road and infrastructure investment in an economic stimulus package; extending the tax credits for renewable energy producers for 10 years, rather than one; and fixing the cycle of catastrophic wildfires and underfunded federal agencies that leeches money from popular recreation and environmental programs on an annual basis.” (Haven’t been able to find a free link yet, unfortunately.)

3THE SWITCHYARD Sometimes obscure government grants can have profound effects, an in the case of a rail switchyard upgrade which would be important both for Roseburg and Coos Bay. Rogue Pundit has a useful followup out.

4HOUSING DEFICIENCIES Lots and lots and lots of new houses were built in the last few years, in the Northwest as elsewhere, but hardly any for lower-income people. In a Eugene Register-Guard general package on the squeeze placed on lower-income people, was this item on lack of affordable housing: “Just about 4,800 affordable housing units and Section 8 low-income housing vouchers are available to the more than 20,000 people in the county who qualified for low-income housing based on the 2000 census, Eugene Urban Services Manager Richie Weinman said. And only about 100 new units of affordable housing are added each year, he said.”

The protests against California’s Proposition 8 – the voter-passed measure which sought to overturn a state Supreme Court decision in favor of same sex marriage – which spread around the country on Saturday were no big surprise in many places. Large rallies in Seattle and Portland – local officials (including Portland’s gay mayor-elect) even lending their support – were pretty much what you’d expect. But another regional story jumped out:

The Idaho Falls Post-Register (the story is behind a pay wall) reports today that on Saturday, “Roughly 50 people gathered in front of the Bonneville County Courthouse with signs such as ‘Say No to Hate,’ ‘Hate is not a family value’ and ‘What if your children grow up to be gay?'”

They did not specifically take aim at the LDS Church, key members of which were central in the push to pass Prop 8. Or the array of local community leaders who sent the big bucks to California to support its passage. (The Post Register reports that $100,000 came from the prominent VanderSloot family, among about 50 area residents who sent in $1,000 or more each.) But their visible presence on the street, in Idaho Falls, had to come as something of a shock.

Harold Bohm was born 88 years ago in Iowa. He worked in law enforcement for many years, and in driver training. he has lived in the same house at Klamath Falls for 30 years.

When he walked up to the local Division of Motor Vehicles office to renew his drivers license, he brought with him his existing license, which he had held for many years, his a much-worn copy of his birth certificate, and a current passport.

Some reasonable objective evidence that applicants for a drivers license (or renewal) are who they say they are, seems sensible enough. But bureaucracy so easily tips over into unreason, and that can top over into revolt. When seems to be where this 88-year old, retired law officer and long-time resident, seems headed.

Theory and practice are colliding here, and the Oregon Legislature next session may be well advised to give some weight to practice.

Maybe the tightest major race this year in Washington was for state lands commissioner, pitting Republican incumbent Doug Sutherland against Democrat Peter Goldmark, who ran for the U.S. House two years ago.

The win, for Goldmark, was 50.3%-49.7%; any closer and you’re into governor ’04 territory. A question: how many counties did it take for Goldmark to (just barely) win?

King? Jefferson? San Juan? Check – they’re the solid reliables. Snohomish and Whatcom? Nothing unusual. But Okanogan . . . therein lies the value of being a native son, that being the only way Goldmark could have one that one . . . although, in truth, he could have won without it . . .

1SALMON/ENVIRONMENT Perspective on the salmon debate from Rocky Barker/Idaho Statesman noting that the impending change in the Northwest’s congressional delegation, combined with the change of presidential administrations, may mean an entirely new approach for salmon. Even before January: He points to this week’s dam removal agreement on the Klamath River as “a major shift in the government’s position on dams in the West.”

Let’s unpack that just a bit, expanding the view. The Washington congressional delegation hasn’t changed, but there are critical changes in the other two. In Oregon, Republican Senator Gordon Smith is being replaced by Democrat Jeff Merkley, who is considerably greener; in the House 5th district, where one Democrat replaces another, newcomer Kurt Schrader is likely to be a bit more green-oriented than Darlene Hooley. In Idaho’s Senate delegation, Republican Jim Risch replaces Republican Larry Craig, but the change could be significant; Craig presented himself as almost always flatly opposed to environmental proposals, while Risch turned out to be as green as most Democrats on the environment during his months as governor. (That probably will give Senator Mike Crapo and Representative Mike Simpson a big assist in developing their environmental efforts in the Owyhee Canyonlands and White Clouds area, respectively.) And, there’s the change from the 1st House district from Republican Bill Sali to Democrat Walt Minnick, who has been active in environmental groups.

Put it together, and what was a fairly close balance on environmental issues now tilts decisively green in the Northwest delegation. And that’s before you get to the impact of the Obama Administration.

2VOTE COUNTS And still they’re counting votes in Washington. And especially in Pierce County, where they’ve been trying out both traditional and ranked-choice ballots. Earlier deadlines for ballot delivery could help.

4COLLEGE ENROLLMENT For the first time in more than a decade, Oregon threw some serious money at its higher education institutions. And now (in the Oregonian, but reflected in other papers around the state as well): “. . . the state’s universities hired faculty, increased pay, improved student services, stepped up recruitment and built and renovated classrooms and labs. In addition, Oregon more than doubled the money for college grants this year and launched a statewide campaign to tell students and their parents about it. The message worked: More than 15,430 students in Oregon public universities received $33.8 million in state grants this fall, more than twice last year’s numbers. The economy also is a factor, because more students seek higher education when jobs are harder to find.”

There are 80 precincts in the portion of Ada County lying in the 1st congressional district. Very roughly speaking, most of the city of Boise, and the areas to the east of it in the county, are in the 2nd district; again roughly, Cole Road, which runs north-sound through the center-west of Boise, is the dividing line between the districts.

That area in the 1st district is the part of Ada County generally voting Republican, in most places heavily so. It voted, for example, for John McCain over Barack Obama – decisively so. But it voted in the 1st District House race for Democrat Walt Minnick over incumbent Republican Bill Sali in numbers much higher – 31.7% higher, enough to give him a win of almost 5,000 votes in that part of Ada County; enough, in turn, to provide his winning margin. Even in the precincts Minnick lost decisively, he heavily outran Obama and other Democrats (generally 25-50% higher). These were people who did not vote for other Democrats, just this one.

Is there anything to be learned from these 80 precincts?

Maybe a little, and we’ll start here. First point is that Minnick’s win was spread around a bunch of the precincts, not concentrated in a few; he won 51 of the 80 precincts. So the simpler approach is to look at the precincts Sali won. Do those have points of commonality that make them stand out from the others?

Generally speaking, yes: Most of them are rural, among them the most rural and relately remote areas in Idaho’s population-heaviest county. The precincts in the far north edge of the county, in the foothills north of Eagle and northwest of Boise (1, 2, 4) were substantial Sali wins. The precincts in the far southern reaches of the county (123, 125 for example) were substantial Sali win areas. The interstices between the cities – some of the areas between Eagle and Meridian, between Meridian and Nampa and between Meridian and Kuna – gave Sali good numbers. The rural area around Star did well for him. And, generally, his old state legislative district and home turf around Kuna stuck with him, delivering solid margins.

Minnick’s margins? He won some rural precincts, but mainly he racked up numbers inside the larger growing cities: primarily Meridian, Eagle and western Boise. These have not been friendly areas for Democrats up to now, but they made a highly unusual exception this time.

The nature of that, in those specific precincts, ought to be research project #1 for Idaho Democrats over the next couple of years. Some of it may have to do with the specific dynamics of this race; maybe Sali, specifically, turned some of those people off. It could be that Minnick personally made a sale here; or it could be a combination of the two. It might be that this unusual voting pattern won’t be replicated in 2010; or it could be a harbinger, a signal of opportunity to come for other Democrats. Whatever’s the case, there’s an important development here, maybe the most important single twist in the elections of 2008 in Idaho. That much we can say with some confidence, even without yet being sure exactly what it means.

FRONTED The federal economic bailout shift is a dominant national story (Oregonian, Spokane Spokesman-Review, Eugene Register-Guard, Idaho Statesman, others). . . . Boise fronts the impending bankruptcy of the owner of the city’s largest shopping mall, but the story generally gets modest media attention (though many regional malls are owned by the company in question) . . .

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1One of the biggest pieces of concrete environmental news in the Northwest this year: An agreement, apparently on the verge of final signoffs, for tearing out four substantial dams on the Klamath River. But, be it noted, it would not happen for several years, and several steps beyond the major signoffs are needed.

3Libraries probably are going to have to find some new approach for offering rental DVDs, especially popular movies. The Tri-City Herald writes about what amounts to much more than just a rash of thefts: “Library records show that so far in 2008, Pasco’s library has had 437 DVDs ‘assumed stolen,’ Cox said. The Kennewick branch has had 89 thefts and Keewaydin Park has lost about 20, he said.”

4They’re having civic fun aplenty in St. Anthony, Idaho. The mayor there has quit, after (according to some people present) saying some of his city’s residents are “stupid” and all of them can “go to hell.” There’s also a recall effort on, which may be a related factor. (Story is behind a pay wall, but part of it is available on newseum.)

Madison County in Idaho is one of the three or four most Republican counties in Idaho, making it one of the most Republican counties in the nation. In the presidential election, it voted 87.5% for John McCain.

This small university community – Rexburg is the dominant city – usually has an almost preternatural calm. But out of somewhere somewhere, a bunch of grade schoolers riding home on a school bus at the Madison School District picked up a new chant this week: “Assassinate Obama.” The kids, evidently, weren’t clear, as they were chanting, what “assassinate” means.

But someone did. Those kids learned it from someone.

A parent who heard about it called the school district, which seems to have responded reasonably in talking to the students about it. The story made local television news across southern Idaho.

But the issue here may be someone other than the students.

AND ALSO At the far end of the state, in Bonner County, there’s a man who proposes – and has posted a sign indicating – the “free public hanging” of Obama and other top Democratic figures. Ken Germana, who posted it: “That’s a political statement. They can call it whatever they want, a threat or whatever.”

1Good news for Washington Republicans? To an extent, anyway: This year’s election at least seems to indicate a bottoming out, an end to the free fall, that has been consistent through the last decade’s worth of elections. Republicans defeated a well-established Democratic state senator on the west side (Marilyn Rasmussen) and seem likely (the final votes aren’t yet in) to pick up a seat or two in the state House. No massive gains, and only minor dents to the mass Democratic majorities, but an end to the slippage. A good overview of current status in the Tacoma News Tribune/Olympian.

2Sounds as if the owner of a whole bunch of Northwest shopping malls is headed for bankruptcy. General Growth Properties Inc. was the buyer of the already-massive Rouse company in 2004, and now its debts will balloon to billions next year. Policy suggestion: In the future, companies have to be split up before they become too big to fail – or so big their failure drags millions of other people down with them . . .

The malls (in the Northwest only, and according to General’s web site)? In Washingto: Alderwood at Lynnwood; Spokane Valley Mall at Spokane; Bellis Fair at Bellingham; Three Rivers Mall at Kelso; NorthTown Mall at Spokane; Westlake Center at Seattle; SouthShore Mall at Aberdeen. In Oregon: Clackamas Town Center at Happy Valley; Rogue Valley Mall at Medford; Gateway Mall at Springfield; Salem Center at Salem; Pioneer Place at Portland. In Idaho: Boise Towne Square at Boise; Pine Ridge Mall at Pocatello; Grand Teton Mall at Idaho Falls; Silver Lake Mall at Coeur d’ Alene. Betcha didn’t realize they were all owned by the same megacorp, did you?

4At Wapato, a detailed story of the founding of a homeless shelter, in an are where, come darkfall, the homeless have been head heading out to sleep in weed patches.

5A quick post, but worth a review, on internet lobbying, at Horse’s Ass. This is probably an unproductive area generally for the disclosure commission, and Goldy’s point here is one of many likely to get made . . .

Along with the Senate races in Alaska and Minnesota, there are a few as-yet unresolved contests in the Northwest. Maybe the premier of them is in Spokane, in legislative district 6, and it seems emblematic of a political tipping point in the Northwest.

District 6, roughly, is suburban Spokane, a U-shaped area running fro north of the city along Highways 2 and 395, west through the Riverside State Park area, the Spokane airport southwest of town, and the suburban area south of city center. It is not centrally urban, which helps a Republican, but increasingly it is densely populated and linked to the city (and a piece of it is within city limits), which would tend to help a Democrat.

In 2002, which first formed as it is now, it elected three Republicans, the best known being state Senator James West (later a mayor of Spokane), and a lawmaker still serving, John Ahern (55.8%). It again elected two Republicans to the House seat in 2004 (Ahern pulled 60.6%). But in 2006 one of those seats went to Democrat Don Barlow (who had lost in 2004), and the Senate seat went to a Democrat (Chris Marr) as well. Abruptly, Ahern was the lone Republican in this marginal district. Continue Reading »

1We have suggested for years that private prisons are trouble waiting to happen. Or maybe not waiting – catch this from the Associated Press in Boise: “Documents from the Idaho Department of Correction obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request show that from September 2007 to September 2008, there were 123 offender-on-offender assaults at the prison, which is operated by Correction Corp. of America near Boise. That compares with 42 assaults during the same period at the Idaho State Correctional Institute and 31 assaults at the Idaho Maximum Security Institute. Half all inmate assaults at prisons statewide last year occurred at ICC . . .”

2Brookings, on the far southwest coast of Oregon just north of California, turns out to be a major destination of retired veterans. A useful sociological take in the Oregonian; losses at Starbucks dominate the Seattle papers; elsewhere around Washington, a Gregoire stimulus proposal (mirroring Kulongoski’s) gets attention.

3Rural economic development proposals centered around the idea of high tech as a location-severed device have sometimes seemed a little wishful. But not always. Check out this large and high-end development – a massive Amazon.com operation – way out in the small desert/farm community of Boardman.

4Not the headlines a church wants, about the kicking-out of homeless people from church property. But what was their option? Quote from the Corvallis News Gazette: “The thing I feel bad about (is) there’s just no place to send them. There’s no place where they’re really welcome to be.”

5We interviewed new Idaho Representative Walt Minnick yesterday; that was one of a number of interviews by him during the day. Here’s a report on another, in the Spokane Spokesman-Review, covering some similar and some different ground.

FRONTED Economic slump highlighted in shopping patterns and services for children in the Idaho Statesman, in automaker strategic decisions in the Idaho Falls Post Register, … The Obama transition 9especially his prospective quick regulatory changes) makes an appearance on most front pages regonally; and the medical announcement of statins to advance-treat heart disease and stroke comes in for some front attention too (see Seattle Times, Spokane, Bend, Olympia, Yankima and Everett) . . .

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1The myth of high school athletics is that talent and determination are the key ingredients for wins; the current Oregonian series on recent track records of winning v. losing teams, roughly matching rich v. poor districts or localities, puts an effective closure to that. The series (started Sunday, continuing today) brings the theory of school funding to a concrete level.

2A bit out of region, but if presidential politics is of interest you’ll want to check out the first major interview by the Anchorage Daily News with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, since her VP run . . .

3The search of a community slogan seldom fails to provide merriment. Such as that of Port Orchard, where the Kitsap Sun‘s print edition (though not online) has the headline: “Gateway to Gorst? Nah.” (Of course, you have to have been to Gorst to fully appreciate the point . . .)

5A Democratic legislator elected from Bend? In truth, it came close to happening in 2006, but this year it actually did, as attorney Judy Stiegler defeated incumbent Republican Chuck Burley. A profile worth reading in the Bend Bulletin.

There is no lack of Idaho voters who would enthusiastically agree with the quote attributed to Washington conservative Grover Norquist, that he wanted to shrink government “to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” That’s just the kind of approach – you can check it in the rhetoric – that so many Idaho Republicans have been running with, to great electoral success, for so many years.

The measure of Walt Minnick‘s success – as the first Idaho Democrat to win congressional seat in 16 years – may be the degree to which he blunts the force of that attitude. Not so much by rhetoric, as by virtue of example.

“In terms of constituent service and instilling an ability to represent people in the district that are dealing with our government, I’m going to do everything I can to be the best there is,” he said in an interview this morning. Which may sound like a normal statement of good intentions from a newly-elected, except that in this case there may be more to it.

To put a point on it . . . All members of Congress do constituent service and run field offices and staffs; the Republican incumbent Minnick defeated, Bill Sali, did. And, “I certainly share the philosophy that a smaller government, a less intrusive government, is in everyone’s best interest,” he said. However – and this is where Idaho Republicans less often go: “You deal with the government as you find it. I don’t think describing it in pejorative terms is likely to induce cooperation. We will work the system we find as effectively as possible.” And, “I’ve always [found] in my experience, if you treat people well,” those people will tend to be more helpful. “If people want to help you in the dept of transportation or the Social Security Administration, they will work late they will go talk to their bosses, they’ll try to find interpretation of rules that allow them to tell you yes. It’s no different from a corporate or other organization, or local government organization.”

Minnick gives you the sense that this is how he’ll approach a lot of the job: Cooperation whenever possible, use of relationships (he knows personally people on the Obama transition crew, for example) and much less often any sharp edges. (You can imagine without much stretch that he and Representative Mike Simpson, who has devoted a lot of effort to building relationships all over the House, may find expansive grounds for cooperation.) Given the opportunity to take a shot at Sali or other Republicans, he declined (somewhat like Barack Obama since election day). In terms of personality and approach, Minnick probably will be hard for the opposition to demonize. Continue Reading »

Note: Today we’re launching what we expect to be regular – as regular as we can make it – feature here, outlining what the region’s newspapers see as the top news, then running through some of the best read we encountered during the day, from news organizations and wherever else. Let us know what you think.

FRONTED Moving beyond the election, while looking ahead to Obama Administration decisions and options (see the Spokesman Review front page), many of the papers reflect on whither Republicans now (the Oregonian, the Seattle Timesin Washington) . . . The Idaho Statesmanpreviews Veterans Day . . . a string of bankruptcy and diminished economy stories . . . overall, more light and feature oriented (Olympian, Kitsap) than just before the election …

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1Sharp reflections on how the very close and very high-profile (regionally) election for mayor of Eugene says a lot about a city more closely divided than many – those who mistakenly buy the granola stereotypes – typically realize. In the Register-Guard.

You can slice the vote from Tuesday in all sorts of ways. One is the way Bryan Fischer, the evangelical activist in Idaho, does: In the presidential contest, 75% of evangelicals nationally (according, we’d guess, to exit polls) voted for Republican John McCain and 25% for Democrat Barack Obama. An interesting stat. (Fischer’s takeaway is that those 25% of evangelicals need to get with the program; that and, we need more evangelicals. Fischer: “Bottom line: if we want to salvage the future of this country, all we need are more evangelicals.”)

The estimate is that in Washington state, 24% of the vote was evangelical, and it split 64% for McCain and 32% for Obama.

In Oregon, the slice was 27%, and McCain got 66% of it, to Obama’s 31%. Very similar to Washington’s.

Idaho was a little different: 33% evangelical, with 80% going to McCain and 18% for Obama. More striking, in other words, than the larger number of evangelicals voting, was the overwhelming degree – compared to Washington and Oregon – they voted for McCain.

By way of orientation: In Alabama, the 46% evangelical vote went 88% for McCain; in Oklahoma, the 52% of the vote that was evangelical went 77% for McCain.

Washington and Oregon evangelicals, overall, were less overwhelmingly Republican than in many other states.

The world is suddenly full of political maps, some of them cleverly done, showing the results of the presidential race in reds and blues. Not many of them take into account the purples.

After all, as some cartographers at the University of Michigan point out in showing off their purple maps, there are no purely red or blue counties in the United States – someone in all (or nearly all) of them is still voting for the minority party. And in quite a few cases, the margins are pretty thin.

So this map, cropped (to reflect only Washington, Oregon and Idaho) from one developed at the University of Michigan, may be a little more enlightening than most. it was drawn from results in the presidential contest only, so that’s the sole comparison, but it still seems useful. The brightest reds (as in Madison and Franklin counties in Idaho) are the most Republican, and the brightest blues (like King County in Washington and Multnomah in Oregon) are the most Democratic.

This will be one of the most talked-about Idaho books in Idaho this season: 14 years after its last edition, Ridenbaugh Press has released a list of 100 influential Idahoans. Randy Stapilus, the editor and publisher of the Idaho Weekly Briefing and author of four earlier similar lists, has based this one on levels of overall influence in the state – and freedom of action and ability to influence development of the state – as of the start of 2015.

"Essentially, I write in the margins of motherhood—and everything else—then I work these notes into a monthly column about what it’s like raising my two young boys. Are my columns funny? Are they serious? They don’t fit into any one box neatly. ... I’ve won awards for “best humorous column” though I actually write about subjects as light as bulimia, bullying, birthing plans and breastfeeding. But also bon-bons. And barf, and birthdays."
Raising the Hardy Boys: They Said There Would Be Bon-Bons. by Nathalie Hardy; Ridenbaugh Press, Carlton, Oregon. 238 pages. Softcover. $15.95.Raising the Hardy Boys page.

"Not a day passes that I don’t think about Vietnam. Sometimes its an aroma or just hearing the Vietnamese accent of a store clerk that triggers a memory. Unlike all too many soldiers, I never had to fire a weapon in anger. Return to civilian life was easy, but even after all these years away from the Army and Vietnam I find the experience – and knowledge – continue to shape my life daily."

Many critics said it could not be done - and it often almost came undone. Now the Snake River Basin Adjudication is done, and that improbable story is told here by three dozen of the people most centrally involved with it - judges, attorneys, legislators, engineers, water managers, water users and others in the room when the decisions were made.Through the Waters: An Oral History of the Snake River Basin Adjudication. edited by the Idaho State Bar Water Law Section and Randy Stapilus; Ridenbaugh Press, Carlton, Oregon. 300 pages. Softcover. $16.95.See the THROUGH THE WATERS page.

Oregon Governor Vic Atiyeh died on July 20, 2014; he was widely praised for steady leadership in difficult years. Writer Scott Jorgensen talks with Atiyeh and traces his background, and what others said about him. Conversations with Atiyeh. by W. Scott Jorgensen; Ridenbaugh Press, Carlton, Oregon. 140 pages. Softcover. $14.95.The CONVERSATIONS WITH ATIYEH page.

"Salvation through public service and the purging of awful sights seen during 1500 Vietnam War helicopter rescue missions before an untimely death, as told by a devoted brother, leaves a reader pondering life's unfairness. A haunting read." Chris Carlson, Medimont Reflections. ". . . a vivid picture of his brother Jerry’s time as a Medivac pilot in Vietnam and contrasts it with the reality of the political system . . . through the lens of a blue-collar, working man made good." Mike Kennedy.One Flaming Hour: A memoir of Jerry Blackbird. by Mike Blackbird; Ridenbaugh Press, Carlton, Oregon. 220 pages. Softcover. $15.95.See the ONE FLAMING HOUR page.

Back in Print!Frank Church was one of the leading figures in Idaho history, and one of the most important U.S. senators of the last century. From wilderness to Vietnam to investigating the CIA, Church led on a host of difficult issues. This, the one serious biography of Church originally published in 1994, is back in print by Ridenbaugh Press.Fighting the Odds: The Life of Senator Frank Church. LeRoy Ashby and Rod Gramer; Ridenbaugh Press, Carlton, Oregon. 800 pages. Softcover. $24.95.See the FIGHTING THE ODDS page.

JOURNEY WEST

by Stephen HartgenThe personal story of the well-known editor, publisher and state legislator's travel west from Maine to Idaho. A well-written account for anyone interested in Idaho, journalism or politics.JOURNEY WEST: A memoir of journalism and politics, by Stephen Hartgen; Ridenbaugh Press, Carlton, Oregon. $15.95, here or at Amazon.com (softcover)

NEW EDITIONSis the story of the Northwest's 226 general-circulation newspapers and where your newspaper is headed.New Editions: The Northwest's Newspapers as They Were, Are and Will Be. Steve Bagwell and Randy Stapilus; Ridenbaugh Press, Carlton, Oregon. 324 pages. Softcover. (e-book ahead). $16.95.See the NEW EDITIONS page.

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THE OREGON POLITICALFIELD GUIDE 2014

The Field Guide is the reference for the year on Oregon politics - the people, the districts, the votes, the issues. Compiled by a long-time Northwest political writer and a Salem Statesman-Journal political reporter.OREGON POLITICAL FIELD GUIDE 2014, by Randy Stapilus and Hannah Hoffman; Ridenbaugh Press, Carlton, Oregon. $15.95, available right here or through Amazon.com (softcover)

THE IDAHO POLITICALFIELD GUIDE 2014

by Randy Stapilus and Marty Trillhaase is the reference for the year on Idaho Politics - the people, the districts, the votes, the issues. Written by two of Idaho's most veteran politcal observers.IDAHO POLITICAL FIELD GUIDE 2014, by Randy Stapilus and Marty Trillhaase; Ridenbaugh Press, Carlton, Oregon. $15.95, available right here or through Amazon.com (softcover)

WITHOUT COMPROMISE is the story of the Idaho State Police, from barely-functioning motor vehicles and hardly-there roads to computer and biotechnology. Kelly Kast has spent years researching the history and interviewing scores of current and former state police, and has emerged with a detailed and engrossing story of Idaho. WITHOUT COMPROMISE page.

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The Old West saw few murder trials more spectacular or misunderstood than of "Diamondfield" Jack Davis. After years of brushes with the noose, Davis was pardoned - though many continued to believe him guilty. Max Black has spent years researching the Diamondfield saga and found startling new evidence never before uncovered - including the weapon and one of the bullets involved in the crime, and important documents - and now sets out the definitive story. Here too is Black's story - how he found key elements, presumed lost forever, of a fabulous Old West story. See the DIAMONDFIELD page for more.

Chris Carlson's Medimont Reflections is a followup on his biography of former Idaho Governor Cecil Andrus. This one expands the view, bringing in Carlson's take on Idaho politics, the Northwest energy planning council, environmental issues and much more. The Idaho Statesman: "a pull-back-the-curtain account of his 40 years as a player in public life in Idaho." Available here: $15.95 plus shipping.See the Medimont Reflections page

NOW IN KINDLE
&nbspIdaho 100, about the 100 most influential people ever in Idaho, by Randy Stapilus and Martin Peterson is now available. This is the book about to become the talk of the state - who really made Idaho the way it is? NOW AN E-BOOK AVAILABLE THROUGH KINDLE for just $2.99. Or, only $15.95 plus shipping.
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Water rights and water wars: They’re not just a western movie any more. The Water Gates reviews water supplies, uses and rights to use water in all 50 states.242 pages, available from Ridenbaugh Press, $15.95

At a time when Americans were only exploring what are now western states, William Craig tried to broker peace between native Nez Perces and newcomers from the East. 15 years in the making, this is one of the most dramatic stories of early Northwest history. 242 pages, available from Ridenbaugh Press, $15.95

The Snake River Basin Adjudication is one of the largest water adjudications the United States has ever seen, and it may be the most successful. Here's how it happened, from the pages of the SRBA Digest, for 16 years the independent source.